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Die Healing
Die Healing is the seventh studio album by doom metal band Saint Vitus, released in May 1995 via Hellhound Records. At the time of release it was the first album to feature original vocalist Scott Reagers in a decade and at the time the band's final album of the band's original run as an intent to "go out with a bang". It turned out to be the final album to feature the original lineup and the last album to feature founding drummer Armando Acosta, who passed away in 2010. Dave Chandler has personally cited Die Healing as his favorite Saint Vitus album of the original run in terms of production and songwriting. The album's title itself has a double-meaning (Die is German for "The" so it could be viewed as "The Healing" as a means of closure) with the two crosses in the album cover further signifying the album's double meaning. Background With personal issues and Vitus' underground popularity sinking with the divisive C.O.D. after a USA tour with Internal Void, the band had no choice but to let go of vocalist Chritus Linderson in the fall of 1993. Discouraged by events the band intended to compose one final album, initially as a trio with Chandler handling the lead vocals and even composed a whole album's worth of material in that vein before scrapping it in preparation for Die Healing. One of the associates from Hellhound Records got the chance to hear the demos planned for the final record and immediately prompted the band to visit Berlin the next autumn to record, picking Harris Johns based on his work with the band Sodom. In that time the band managed to convince original vocalist Scott Reagers to rejoin the group. That next fall from 21 October 1994 to 6 November 1994 recording began. The basic tracks were composed from the 25th to the 28th with the vocals recorded on the 27th and 28th, with final mixing and mastering done by Chandler, Adams, Acosta and Harris Johns for the remaining time. On 29 October 1994 the band performed a secret show at Huxley's Neue Welt in Berlin, intending to make it a private show to record a music video for "One Mind". Unexpectedly more people than expected showed up with the band performing an intimate set of Die Healing songs along with old classics. Die Healing was released on 9 May 1995 and largely ignored by critics at the time due to the ongoing rise of grunge. The band would perform a short European tour with Revelation as the supporting act in March that year before quietly breaking up in 1996. With time Die Healing would be hailed as a classic album in Vitus' discography, with Reagers and Chandler citing this record among their favorites, Chandler especially referring to it as the heaviest album they recorded at the time. In 2010 Buried By Time and Dust Records would give Die Healing it's first vinyl issue (As Hellhound only released it on CD and Cassette at the time) with Season of Mist doing a reissue of their own in 2013 on CD and Vinyl, including extensive liner notes detailing the recording and a remaster. Since it's re-release it's attained near-universal praise by critics revisiting this 1995 classic. Tracklist All words and music by Chandler, all songs arranged by Saint Vitus *1. "Dark World" - 4:57 *2. "One Mind" - 4:34 *3. "Let the End Begin" - 7:36 *4. "Trail of Pestilence" - 5:10 *5. "Sloth" - 8:10 *6. "Return of the Zombie" - 6:42 *7. "In the Asylum" - 8:11 *8. "Just Another Notch" - 4:29 Personnel * Scott Reagers - Vocals * Dave Chandler - Guitar, Lead Vocals on "Just Another Notch" * Mark Adams - Bass * Armando Acosta - Drums * Harris Johns - Producer, Engineer * Vogel de Garcia - Photography External Links *Die Healing on Bandcamp *Die Healing on Discogs *Sputnikmusic review of the reissue *Treblezine review of the reissue *Metal-Observer review of the reissue *The Sleeping Shaman review of the reissue *The Obelisk Friday Full-Length on Die Healing References Category:Release Category:Studio Album Category:Armando Acosta Category:Berlin Category:Germany Category:Hellhound Records Category:Dave Chandler Category:Saint Vitus Category:Doom Metal Category:Scott Reagers Category:Mark Adams